Saturday, November 22, 2014

Alebrijes :: Art & Design for the Gift Market

We're winding down our last week of MATS with one of the most fun projects — lush zipper pouches! Inspired by my old collection of alebrijes — wood carved animal figures from Oaxaca, Mexico — I spent a few days sketching scores of foxes, owls, raccoons, armadillos, gazelles and other ungulates, while studying their lively patterns. I also made some background textures and geometric patterns, and repurposed a beautiful old public-domain map of Mexico, to create a rich background. For my final piece, I yielded to my own vision of animals and my personal color sensibilities rather than utilize the artform's traditional pure, bright pigments. However, I do hope I captured some of the spirit that Pedro Linares had in mind when he first dreamt of his phantasmagoric characters which began the alebrijes folk art movement.